About
Meet Ken Lear
Based in the Detroit area, Ken Lear is an entrepreneur, consultant, mentor and family man.
He is an experienced sales professional and business leader, a mentor to young professionals, and the proud CEO of a growing business headquartered in Farmington Hills, MI.
Penn State, then the front yard
Ken attended Pennsylvania State University, where he studied Marketing and International Business and earned his Bachelor of Science from the Smeal College of Business Administration. He played soccer for Penn State's Nittany Lions, and still keeps those ties through the Varsity "S" Club, the Penn State Alumni Association and the Club Soccer Alumni group.
The work ethic came earlier than that. "As a child, I would practice out in the front yard for hours at a time. I remember going out and juggling with my dad and having little competitions. My dad would juggle the soccer ball five times and then he'd say, okay now you have to do fifteen times as many as I did. So if he did 10 then I'd have to do 150 — and I'd stand there and juggle the ball while he'd count."
"My mom used to say: where there's a will, there's a way. If you want it bad enough, you'll figure it out, you'll work to get it. I've taken all of these lessons with me in my career."
He now leads an organisation responsible for the acquisition and retention of clients across a wide range of industries, and gives a large part of his year to coaching the people inside it.
If you're willing to give before you get — if you think of others before yourself — ultimately, you'll be set up to have an amazing life.
Mission
To help people make progress: naming the goal, putting the plan on paper, and noticing the small adjustments week over week.
Vision
Changing the world one leader at a time.
Ken's framework
C.O.M.M.I.T.
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Check yourself
Check in with yourself on what you need — resources, skills, coaches. Take inventory of your skills and rate them by importance, 1 to 10.
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Obsess over your craft
You have to become an expert in the little things. Good salespeople lead their customers to the goal; a new one gets the first "no" and walks away.
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Mindfulness
Be mindful of who will help you grow. Who is in your circle of influence, and are they helping you get ahead? Be mindful of how you speak to yourself. Give purpose to the weight of your words.
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Mature
Think back to your early 20s. How often did you show up to a job hungover? A very influential person pointed out my immaturity in doing so. That gave me the perspective to act more skilfully when I choose to participate in something I know might affect me the next day.
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I control my life
Taking ownership of where you are in life, even when you are in an uncomfortable spot you don't want to be in.
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Test
There are a lot of tests you'll cross paths with in life, and you'll bring most of them on yourself. The decision comes down to whether you give up and change your environment, or grow and change yourself while you adapt to it.
In his own words
Ken Lear's journey as a businessman
How did your sports background translate into business success?
My whole childhood revolved around soccer — my older brother, Jeff, and I played since we were around three or four years old. Sports taught me how to work in a team, how to relate to a ton of different types of people from different backgrounds, different strengths, different weaknesses. It taught me to rise to the occasion, to take ownership and be a captain and lead people. It also taught me work ethic. All that effort and discipline, the things that went on behind the scenes, were what got me to the state and college teams.
What's the key difference between being an employee and an entrepreneur?
If you do it right, when you work for yourself you can create freedom. Freedom to choose, freedom of finance, freedom to do the things you enjoy doing. Business owners get to make decisions based on their values, not based on what someone else is telling them they should do. For me as an entrepreneur, there's meaning in my day — it's not just working for the man. You could work in corporate America and make a company millions of dollars of profit. Or you can work for yourself and create something, build something, and be challenged.
What do you view as the biggest challenge of entrepreneurship?
When you run your own business and manage a company with a lot of people, your people's issues become your issues. So you need to learn how to have the emotional strength to help people through things — and financial strength too. You really have to be a jack of all trades and learn how to do it all: training, developing, hiring, financial management, decision-making.
How have you developed and evolved as a leader over the years?
In my 20s I didn't realise that my competitive mindset was hurting my communication. I didn't have awareness of things you should say or not say to people, and I thought I was motivating them when I was really just ticking them off. I've learned that you have to communicate with a person in a way that will best serve them, not you. Another thing I learned the hard way is that I can't want something for someone more than they want it for themselves.
Do you have any non-negotiables for your mentees?
Yes. The first is being on time. It's a choice and a discipline. The second is honesty. If you're dishonest, you get terminated — there's no room for error. Everything else, for the most part, is coachable.
What is your advice to someone trying to take their career to the next level?
Success in anything comes down to discipline and habits. The discipline piece is what you do when nobody's watching — what you do for your company and for your future and for your goals when no one is there cheering you on. Clarify what you want, then develop a roadmap. You have to get emotionally attached to your goals. Thoughts equal feelings, feelings equal actions and actions get you results. Set a high bar and keep raising it. Don't become complacent, never take your foot off the gas.
Is there any advice you would give your younger self?
I wish that in my 20s I wasn't so hard on myself, because it all worked out. If you have the right intention and you have the right attitude — and you keep your head down and work hard — and you surround yourself with successful people, then you'll do fine.
What he stands on
Five non-negotiables
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Urgency
Set a high bar and keep raising it. Never take your foot off the gas.
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Accountability
You earn what you get in this world. Nothing is handed to you.
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Generosity
Give before you get. Think of others before yourself.
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Progress
Success is a game of inches. Notice the small adjustments, week over week.
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Honesty
Be willing to have the tough conversation. Awareness is what people are owed.
On the road
In the room
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Recognising leadership behaviour early is the whole job.